Hotaru Haruno
by SuomiTytt
Summary: Hotaru is 7 years old boy, who lives together with his mother, Sakura Haruno. He haven't ever had a father, and when he asks about him from his mom, Sakura frozes. When Hotaru gets enough of this, he asks straight from her, and hears something terrible. The blond boy starts to get even more interested about his dad, until... Sorry, I was born not to be good on summaries '
1. Chapter 1

1st. Chapter

- I'm home! screamed a seven years old blond boy, who slammed the door behind him loudly and threw his shoes and school bag to a corner of small hall way.

- Hi honey, how was your day? Sakura asked while making a dinner for two in a kitchen.

- It was awesome! Our own teacher was sick, so we got a substitute, who wasn't beware of my pranks! He practically fell for each and every one of them! What do we have for dinner? the boy asked when he entered the kitchen and got a smell of delicious food from a pan his mother was holding above the stove.

- Hotaru, you shouldn't have done that to that poor substitute, Sakura said, turning his question down and turned around to see her son. She gave him an angry glare. The boy new about his mothers monstrous strength, and not just because of that, but because he felt guilty, he turned his ocean blue eyes to the ground and apologized.

- Don't apologize me. Your substitute is the one you should be apologizing. We'll talk about this later, but did anything else happen? Something to mention about? Sakura had turned back to the stove and was turning the meat pieces in a pan.

- No, not really. Well, my friends asked me about my dad. I didn't know what to answer, I don't have a father after all, Hotaru replied. Sakura froze right that moment. It was too painful for her to even think about _him_, not to mention about talking.

- Mom, is everything ok? Sakura woke up, when she heard her son's worried voice.

- Yeah, I'm fine. Now go to your room and do your homework, while I finish making dinner, Sakura smiled to her son. Hotaru ran to the hall way, pensively, picked up his school bag and ran to his room. Again, he slammed the door behind him with full power.

Sakura sighted. She loved her son, more than anything, but did he had to be like _him_ in everyway? He had the same blond hair, ocean blue eyes, goofy smile and ability to piss all the teachers off, with his stupid pranks. Same as _he_ did when they were young. Sakura had naturally bubble-gum-pink hair, green eyes and pale skin. If someone, who didn't know them, walked towards Sakura and Hotaru, he wouldn't even believe that they were related. That different they were. As Sakura had fallen to her thoughts, the stove was still on. She woke up just in time to save the pieces of meat from burning and continued making food for Hotaru and herself.

_ 'I hate these stupid facts about chakra-control. With this, I'm the worst'_ Hotaru thought while he was browsing the big book that their substitute had given for them as a homework. _'If mom hadn't told me to do these, I wouldn't'_. He looked only the pictures of the chapter they got for homework. _'Too boring'_. When he was in the middle of falling asleep, he came to think about his mother's reaction, when he mentioned his father. It was like she had frozen in that moment. Sakura never had told him anything. Hotaru didn't know his father's name. Or did he even have a father. Sakura always just stayed quiet, and when Hotaru became worried, she smiled that well-made fake-smile that told everything was okay, when it really wasn't. That made him worry even more. What was she hiding? _'Did my father do something, that would make mom hate him? If so, what could it be?'_ Hotaru wanted to know. He wanted to know something that had happened in past, before he was born. But how? That was the question that needed an answer most badly.

He thought it for a while, until Sakura yelled at him to come eat dinner. Hotaru left his school stuff on the desk in his room and walked to the kitchen.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi! Me again. So, I for those who found spelling errors: I'm really sorry, if it bothered you, but I can't help it. My English isn't very good and it isn't my native language. So, sorry, once more. Now to the story. I do not own Naruto, or other Naruto characters(except new generation in this story).**

* * *

2nd. Chapter

Hotaru didn't even touch his food, though normally he ate with good apetite. He was really deep in his thoughts. Sakura looked at him little worried.

- Hotaru, honey, is something wrong? she asked. Nothing. Hotaru just sat there, without any reaction.

- Hallo? Earth recalls Hotaru. Does Hotaru hear? Sakura said with playful voice. Nothing again. Sakura started waving her hand in front of Hotaru's eyes. Now he noticed his mother and her worried face.

- What's wrong? You seemed fine when you came home. Did something happen after all? she asked again.

- No, everything's fine. I just-. It's nothing, he replied. Sakura was still a little bit worried, but didn't let it bother her.

They ate dinner in death silence. When Sakura had eaten, she washed her plate and put it to the sink. Hotaru still just sat there, with full plate.

- Hotaru, Sakura sighed, - if something bothers you, you must tell me. I'm your mother. Remember that you can tell me anything.

- It's just that I want to know, he finally said.

- Know what?

- Know something! Who's the man you won't ever talk about? And why is that? What does that reaction you have, when I talk about my father, mean? Hotaru shouted. First Sakura looked surprised of little boy's sudden rant, but after fast recovery from the most shock, she tried to swallow the tears that were trying to push through. She looked at him wistfully. _'He's just like _him_. He wants to know, even if we keep it from Hotaru to protect him.'_

- I'm sorry. I can't tell you, Sakura said, while swallowing tears.

- But why? Mom, I swear, I won't tell anyone! Please tell me at least what did he do? Hotaru begged without noticing his mother's expression. He continued whining, until it was too much for Sakura.

- It's forbidden to talk about _him_! We both would be in terrible danger! Sakura lost her temper, and shouted and cried in front of her son.

- Fo-forbidden? Hotaru's face had turned white. His face showed an expression of fear. He didn't know, what to be afraid of. There were so many possibilities. He might be a son of a dangerous criminal, or maybe even worse. He collapsed on the floor with both hands squeezing his head. He didn't think anything. The thoughts just flew through his head, millions of them. What kind of "terrible danger" did his mother mean? Sakura cried loudly, her other hand hiding her mouth and other one leaning on the sink. Hotaru finally got some kind of hold of himself, and ran straight to his own room. When he got there he closed the door behind him with full power and collapsed again, this time against the door. His head was leaning the door and he looked the roof with eyes full of tears. He cried and thought everything he had heard. Only two sentences had changed his way of thinking about his father. _'Do I want to hear any more?'_ was the thought that stopped Hotaru's crying. _'Do I really want to hear about the man who has done something so bad, that it is forbidden to talk about? A man whose flesh and blood I am?'_ Those thoughts were the thing, he used every piece of his brain. He sat against the door and thought. Thought and thought, until the head under a blond hair begun to hurt. He was pretty tired, too. He looked at a digital alarm-clock on his desk; 05:47am. Just over an hour, and mom will come to wake me. Hotaru decided to go bed, for the remaining hour. He stood up and walked over his bed, and fell from straight legs to sound asleep.

* * *

Hotaru woke to a sun light coming behind the curtains. He felt like he had slept longer than ever before. Well, he was a good sleeper, because if it wasn't Sakura waking him up, he'd sleep the whole day. Just opposite of Sakura, who liked to wake up as soon as sun rose.

_'Hey, wait a second. My room is on the western side of the house. Sun shouldn't shine here before 2__pm__!' _Hotaru opened his eyes and looked the alarm-clock; 03:26pm. He threw his blanket in the air and ran out of his room. When he entered the kitchen he saw Sakura reading some magazine at the table.

- Mom, what time is it? he asked almost in panic.

- Almost half past three. Why do you ask? she replied.

- I slept the whole day! You didn't wake me, Hotaru said. You could hear the relief of not having to go to school in his voice.

- Yeah, I let you sleep this time. I think neither one of us slept much last night, she smiled. Sakura had gone to work though. She had to work a lot as a single parent. And nobody really even knew that she was a mother of a seven years old boy. She was just turned 26 and didn't go out with anyone. Most people in her age just got their firstborns. Like Ino and Shikamaru. They had just had a little twins; a girl and a boy. Names hadn't been decided yet, but what was sure, was that Sakura would become godmother of these babies, like Ino was Hotaru's. By the way, Sakura was going to see the happy married couple and brand new Nara twins this afternoon. She had just waited for Hotaru to wake up. Now that he was awake, Sakura told him to go to brush teeth, take a little shower and get dressed. He could eat at Ino's place. She was going to make coffee for the adults, and some juice for Hotaru, anyways. When Hotaru came back to kitchen all dressed up and ready to go, they left the house.

It was a beautiful summer day for a little walk around the village Hidden in the Leaves, but they went straight to the Nara residence.

- Oh hey, Sakura! And Hotaru! Please, come in! Ino said with a big smile in her face. At the door they heard a loud screaming coming from a small living room and Shikamaru's voice trying to calm it down. Then another baby started crying. The whole house was a big mess. _'It seems that babies keep those two busy'_ Sakura thought smirking. _'Well, Hotaru was the same in that age too. Maybe even worse. Has it really been seven years, already?'_

- Sorry about the mess. These two are quite loud fellows, Ino said after running from door to living room, grabbing a baby boy in her arms and was now walking back to the door while hushing the infant.

- No, it was the same with Hotaru, too, Sakura replied. Hotaru looked up to his mother with little pissed look on his face. Sakura didn't notice this, and walked after Ino to the kitchen, where the tempting smell of just made cookies came from. Hotaru quickly followed the two women and a screaming baby.

Hotaru sat at the table eating cookies and drinking juice, and listened Sakura and Ino's talking with half an ear. The babies had settled down, and Shikamaru was watching over them.

- Hotaru, would you want to go play with uncle-Shikamaru for a while, and leave aunt-Ino and mommy talking? Ino asked with a nice voice.

- Ok, Hotaru sighed and went to Shikamaru. The two women were now alone, and Hotaru didn't hear them anymore.

- You said at the phone, you wanted to talk about something? Ino asked.

- Hotaru has started to get interested about-. Well, about _him_, Sakura whispered. - He has asked me before, but now he's dead serious. Ino, what am I going to do?

- That's a problem, indeed. Ino stayed quiet for a few minutes.

- I think you shouldn't tell him. You know the law. It has been made to protect the villagers, but especially you two. You should talk to lady Tsunade, about this, and ask her opinion.

- I know. But I haven't been in the Hokage's office since _he_ left. Lady Tsunade has visited me and Hotaru, but I haven't gone there. As you know well, I quit being a shinobi, to stay alive for him, Sakura said as she looked to the direction of Hotaru. Ino smiled, but she knew what really was going through her best friends mind. She had quit being a shinobi for Hotaru, that was true, but there was more. There was so much more about her quitting a shinobi's job. And that's why she didn't want Hotaru to become a shinobi either. Ino had sawn it from him, and so did everyone else too, that Hotaru was exactly like his father and would make a strong shinobi some day. He could become the leader of the village, if Sakura just would allow it. She let Hotaru to go academy, but had told Tsunade to never let him pass the graduation exam. Well, she didn't have to worry that for a while. Hotaru was still seven, and until he became twelve and would be able to graduate, he would only go safely to the academy.

- You just have to go, Ino said. Sakura stayed quite and looked the coffee inside the cup in front of her. She sighed:

- I guess I don't have a choice.

They continued talking only a little more about this topic, and changed to happier ones.

* * *

**So** **what will happen next? You will find out, as fast as I publish a new chapter. And it may take a while c(: I'm going next day to a class trip to England and stay there for a week. And after that I got tons of other school work to do... But I'll try to make it fast. Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okey, finlly the 3rd. chapter! So, I had a school trip to England last week, and it was AWESOME! I could spent a whole week, with only my friends, and in a foreign country! Uuh, we had so much fun!  
**

**Now, to the things that include the story: as you can see, I raised the raiting fron K+ to T. If you wonder why, here's the reasoning: I have thought my story line further, and well, there will be some things that are not so recommendable for under 13 years old. Now to the story itself:**

* * *

3rd. Chapter

A few hours later in the living room, Hotaru was tickled by Shikamaru.

"Heheheheeee, I, ahaha, I ne-, aahahaa, I need-! Aargh, stop it, ehehehehehee! I need some air! Hiihihihihii" Hotaru managed to say.

Shikamaru smiled and let the boy go. No one would have guessed, about eight years before, that Shikamaru was such a children loving person. When Hotaru was born, and Sakura brought him with her to meet Ino, Shikamaru had always offered to take care of the little blondie, while the women had some time to talk and have fun. Now he had his own two babies, but still liked to spend some time with Hotaru.

Right then, Hotaru's stomach reminded him that he hadn't eaten yet more than a few cookies. It growled with a loud voice.

"Ya hungry?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah..." Hotaru replied.

"Just a sec. I'll get you something to eat."

A young man with a dark brown ponytail went to the kitchen. There he opened the fridge and took a plate out of there. The two women at the table didn't let him bother their chitchat. He warmed the food from the plate, and went back to Hotaru.

"There you go." He was handing the plate to a hungry little kid.

"Thanks", said Hotaru, who took the food from him with pleasure.

Hotaru started stuffing the food in his mouth, and in no time, there was nothing in the plate.

"Aah, I'm full", he mumbled.

"Heh, you really remind your dad in a lot of different ways", said Shikamaru, who had over heard some of the talking his wife had with the pink haired woman.

"My dad", Hotaru whispered, "you knew him?"

"Yeah, you could say so. He was a really great man, you know."

Hotaru looked up to, already ANBU ranked, adult amazement read all over his face. Like the brown haired shinobi had just said something totally insane. _Great man_ was the only thing that little blondie could hear inside his head.

Shikamaru was surprised of the reaction. Hadn't Sakura told Hotaru a _single_ thing about his father to the boy itself?

Then the little boys expression changed to happiness. He started smiling.

_'I think _he_ would have the exact same expression in this situation'_ Shikamaru thought with wistful smile on his face. He kind of missed the loud friend of his. _'Wonder what happened to him...'_

* * *

"Hotaru, I think it's our time to leave" Sakura called her son and hold out her hand for him. She was smiling, but you could see that she had cried earlier, not too long ago. Shikamaru knew why, but Hotaru just guessed.

Hotaru hugged the new head of the Nara residence and said good byes. He did the same thing to Ino, too.

He took the hand his mother was holding for him and an ex-kunoichi and her son left.

They walked the longer way this time. It was late evening already, and the sun was setting. The two walked through Konoha's park, where some people where enjoying the warm summer air.

They sat down to a bench under a cherry tree. There was no flowers in the tree at this time of the year, but it still was a beautiful one.

Sakura watched the purple coloured sky and sighed. It was quiet, but as usual, Hotaru broke the silence.

"Mom, I talked with uncle-Shikamaru today", he started.

Sakura looked down to face her son. She tried to smile, but everyone saw that she was ready to burst to tears.

Hotaru continued:

"He told me that dad was a great man, and he knew him. If he was a great man, why would it be dangerous for us to talk about him?"

_'He won't give up, will he?'_ Sakura thought.

"This was the very spot, where we had our first kiss."

Now she couldn't hold tears anymore. She was still smiling, but her eyes just flowed.

"Oh God, I miss him so much", she mumbled behind her hand that she had put in front of her mouth to cover it.

Hotaru saw that she wasn't even trying to smile anymore.

"What happened? Did he leave you?" he tried to make his mother tell him.

She just sobbed. She wasn't able to talk anymore because of the sobbing.

No wonder; all the good and precious memories of her beloved lover started to flash through her mind. Eight years without seeing your love one, will break anyone's heart to a million pieces.

Sakura got some kind of hold of herself, after a little while, wiped the tears off, took a deep breathe, and acted like she had refreshed, for Hotaru's sake.

"Honey, so what did you ask, again?"

"That, why can't we talk about my dad, if he was a good man? What's the big deal?" Hotaru asked again, believing his mother's act.

"Hotaru, honey, there some are certain things in this world, that are not meant for yours, or any others' ears", Sakura said, "But I promise, you will be told, some day. Maybe not today, nor tomorrow, or even in years, but some day."

Usually Hotaru would complain and want to know right now, but in this situation, he just remained silent and nodded.

* * *

An ex-kunoichi and an academy student arrived their small apartment and went inside. They had just some bread and milk before going to sleeping. As always, Hotaru was fast asleep and relieved about everything he had discovered about his father during the day.

Just before he closed his eyes, Sakura whispered from the door:

"Good night my darling. I'll come to wake you up tomorrow seven am to school, so you better get some sleep."

* * *

**Okey, so it seems that Sakura is good at acting... Weird... Anyways, I'd like to have a lot of pairings, but I have no idea which ones I should put in this story. So, it's your job, my precious reader, to review and tell which pairings you suggest. BUT I'm a BIG Kakashi fan, so NO Kaka_ pairings, please. And they cannot include Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke or any of the dead characters. So, I have my own plans for team 7 and so(smirking with nose bleed)... But any alive, no team 7 pairings, are welcome.**

**And let me ask you one more thing: How many of you know(or think you know) who is the mysterious father of Hotaru-kun? (I think all of you do know...)But because I don't want to spoil the fun from those who don't know(DON'T KNOW?!), it will come along the story :D  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**So this time I made it a little longer, 'cause many of the reviewers told earlier chapters were too short. I want to say only two thing, before you can start: Have I ever said Naruto is dead?! I got one message, which told me to remove Naruto's name from the story, 'cause he is dead. Have I said so? NO! Please, just follow the story and you'll know. Don't make conclusions out of no where. And for second: The war part is totally made my mind! It has nothing to do what really happens. I have watched the anime to last episode (309) but not read manga, so I don't know what will really happen. So if you are reading this after the Naruto series have ended, it won't be the same. Now back to the story:**

* * *

4th. Chapter

"YOU LITTLE BRAT BETTER WAKE UP, OR ELSE!"

Hotaru opened his eyes and jumped up from his bed, just in time to dodge Sakura's fist.

"SHANNAROO!"

**An:/ like I told you earlier, Hotaru is not so easy to wake up, so this is the result every single morning, after Sakura has tried the gentle ways of doing it ^^'**

Sakura's punch hit Hotaru's bed, but didn't cause any damage(extra strong bed, I guess?).

Hotaru ran to the bathroom and locked the door. Sakura calmed down and went to the kitchen, to make breakfast for her son.

Hotaru walked there in a few minutes too. He sat next to his over reacting mother and started to eat some porridge.

When he finished eating, he went to brush his teeth.

After that, he once more came back to the kitchen, gave a little kiss to his mother's cheek, went to the hallway, grabbed his schoolbag, and left the house.

* * *

"Good morning students! I'm back! Hope you were nice to your substitute, while I had cold", said Tenten who had just come back to school. She wasn't abreast of Hotaru's doings. Still she looked the boy as if she knew. When she noticed the blue eyed boy's smirk, she asked knowing, that if anyone had done anything wrong, it was him:

"Class, did any of you, well, I don't know, play a prank or something for a substitute?"

Everyone stayed silent for a second. But then a raven haired boy yelled:

"Hotaru did!"

Hotaru glared the boy, who just smirked back.

Tenten sighed. _'I knew it...'_

"Detention for Haruno Hotaru", she said, "Anyone else?"

Hotaru felt angry. _'That guy... What was his name again? Can't remember. Why does he always get involved with my businesses? I hate him!'_

"Ok", Tenten said when no one else was pointed out, "I'll sent a message to your mother about this. Now let's start our new school day with some history. Today we will learn about the 4th. Great Ninja War. Open up your world history books from page 153."

The pupils in class got their heavy history books and opened them up from page their teacher asked for.

"Ok, let's start with some basic facts. What do you know about the 4th. Great Ninja War?"

"It was in the year xxxx, only three years before our birth", a girl from the back of the class told.

"Thank you, Rei. Anyone else?"

The class remained silent.

"Oh, come on! You must know something. All of your parents were fighting in there!" Tenten tried to courage her students.

Still nothing.

"Sigh, I'll tell you then. Like Rei said it was only three years before your birth. The war was held to protect a very special boy, whose powers were wanted by Uchiha Madara. This Uchiha Madara led an evil organization called 'Akatsuki'. They were all S-ranked criminals and after the Jinchuurikis."

"Tenten-sensei, what's a Jinchuuriki?" asked light-blue hair coloured boy.

"A human with special powers", Tenten replied. She didn't want to tell her students yet, that a Jinchuuriki was actually a human sacrifice to hold one of the dangerous tailed-beast demons inside him/her.

"Where was I? Oh yeah, so 'Akatsuki' were after the Jinchuurikis in search of power. The village Hidden in the Leaves had also a Jincuuriki, a boy. He was sixteen at the time of the war, but still the strongest shinobi in whole village. He had defeated the second leader of 'Akatsuki', Pain, who had six bodies. So, he kind of fought six S-ranked criminals and won, when nobody else in the village could win them."

You could hear few "Whoa"s in the class.

"So this whole war was to protect him from getting into Madara's hands, but turned out that he was the only one with the ability to win. They had a terrible fight. He did get some help though. After Madara was taken care of he had to fight the strongest opponent of his life: his best friend. He wanted to fight alone. No one was allowed to interfere the fight. It lasted long. Our Jinchuuriki was close to death, and his best friend died. His female team mate and sensei were able to keep him alive as long as was needed before medical team came. He survived. Because of the powers inside him, he recovered from the fight physically, but mental part suffered a great pain of loss."

"Who's the Jinchuuriki we are talking about?" could be heard from the class.

"I was going to come to it. He was called Uzumaki Naruto, the Orange Spark of the Leaf, also known as the 6th. Hokage. Now back to what I was talking about: So he recovered physically fast, but was all broken up because of the loss of his best friend and team mate. His other team mate, who was a medic-nin, by the way, was also in pain, but not as badly as Naruto. When he got out of the hospital, the 5th. Hokage retired and the council decided Naruto to become the 6th. He was sixteen and a Hokage! Pretty amazing, huh? The life started to be good again for him. He didn't ever forget his best friend, but was feeling a little better. A couple of years went by and he lived a good life. Then something happened. One day, when he was eighteen(almost nineteen), he was needed by the village Hidden in the Sand. Naruto went there to help Kazekage, but his ANBU were all killed on their way back, and he disappeared. His body was never found, so some still believe he's alive and wait for him to come back. But some think that he wouldn't leave the village on its own for eight years. So no one really knows, is he alive or not. 5th. Hokage took her old job back."

"If Hokages are that amazing, I'm gonna become a Hokage too!" was heard in the class. Everyone burst out laughing for the blond boy who had jumped up from his seat, yelling out he would become Hokage.

"Like a retard like you could become a Hokage!" the raven haired boy yelled back, which made all the students laugh even louder.

"That's enough!" Tenten screamed. A few chuckles were still heard from the class.

"Ok, if mister Inuzuka could also shut his mouth, and stop commenting Haruno's dreams, would be a nice change to our day."

Both boys sat down and Tenten continued their lesson.

* * *

"Mom, guess what!"

Hotaru had come back from school only a few seconds ago, and he was already in the kitchen, just to see Sakura was still at work.

"Oh yeah, the bar is open today and she won't come home before nine o'clock", Hotaru told himself.

Yes, as you know, single parents' life is hard, indeed. Sakura starts her workday at 7am at the hospital as a nurse, quits at three o'clock, and if it's Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday, she goes straight to her second job to a bar as a waitress and gets home 9pm, just in time to say good night for Hotaru. After that she got a pile of bills to pay, which she have no afford to. Then she gets seven hours of sleep and it all starts again.

Hotaru didn't know how far his mother pushed herself to get good life for Hotaru. He didn't know, but was still a bit worried of her.

Hotaru's thoughts were interrupted by the sound coming from toilet flushed.

_'What the..? Am I not alone?'_

He heard also someone washing hands in the bathroom.

Hotaru panicked, but got a hold of himself.

_'I'll just go check who it is and...'_ And what? What an academy student could do if there was someone with no good intends?

Hotaru opened a drawer and took out a mallet meant for cooking. With it, he silently tiptoed to the bathroom's door. He hid himself behind the door and it started to slowly open. Now he was squeezed between the door and a wall. The door started closing revealing the identity of the intruder.

* * *

Sigh, another afternoon in stinking bar, serving drunken old men. This really was something Sakura hated the most, with the thought she could be with her own son, spending an afternoon together. And the fact that she was the only woman in this village, in so big need of money, that she had accepted this job. The bar itself was almost in bankruptcy, but so were all of the customers too. All of them were either in the middle of break up, or had already broken up with their wives, with no family or money. And because Sakura was only 26 years old young, pretty woman, they all sent creepy looks at her. She had to watch out for herself in this job. You don't even know when a retired, old, drunken shinobi jumps somewhere from the shadows on you. It was scary as hell.

"Hey, you Pinkie, one more beer for me!" shouted a man with ripped clothes and the looks like he had been living in the streets for a while.

Bartender full filled the mans orders and Sakura gave the cold beer for the man.

"Why don't you come with me after your shift ends and we can have a little fun", he smirked.

"No thanks! I have something WAY more important at home than you!" she told the man with strict voice.

"Your shame. Even if I don't look like it, I have money. If interested now, come to the closest alleyway after your shift. Offer is effective until 10pm. I'm waiting", the man said, dumped the cold drink to his mouth, and left without paying. Chills went down Sakura's back, until she heard another call for drinks and got back to her work.

* * *

"Sheesh! Don't scare me like that!" Hotaru said and lowered the mallet in his hands.

"Well, your mother asked me to look after you tonight, so she could be sure everything's fine. What were you doing with that mallet, by the way?" asked a silver haired jounin.

"Non of your businesses. And as you can see, I'm absolutely fine, Kakashi-san", Hotaru replied.

Kakashi chuckled a bit. Hotaru shoot him an angry glare.

"I'm not so used on baby sitting, so what do you suggest we do first?" Kakashi asked after Hotaru had putted the mallet back to where it came from.

"Hey! I'm not a baby anymore! And I absolutely don't need a baby sitter!" Hotaru whined to masked jounin.

"If that's so, I think I won't buy you a round of ramen then. 'Cause you are not a baby anymore, I'm sure you can buy your own ramen then" Kakashi said smirking.

Hotaru's eyes went wide. Ramen! He loved ramen, and was going to get some for free!

"Let's go already!" he shouted and ran outside. There he turned around to wait the jounin, who was laughing at the change of the boy with blond hair and blue eyes.

_'Sometimes I think that they are even the same person'_

They went together to the Ichiraku-ramen-shop were the old man made them some ramen.

Sakura had tried her best _not_ to feed Hotaru any ramen, but just as a practical joke, Inuzuka Kiba gave him some at his third birthday party. After that, Hotaru never liked anything over ramen. Sakura had still some grudge against Kiba because of that.

"Kakashi-san, why did mom want you to look after me now? I mean, I've been home alone four days a week as long as I can remember."

"I think, she thinks you are lonely", Kakashi replied.

Hotaru took a pair of chopsticks and rip them apart. Ramen shop's owner gave him a steaming bowl. Hotaru started eating. He didn't even notice when Kakashi already ate his bowl empty.

"Seconds!" asked the blue eyed boy.

"Coming Naru-! I mean Hotaru!"

Hotaru smiled for the mistake the old man had made. He really thought the man was getting old. Mixing him up with -who?

"Who did you just call me?" Hotaru asked.

"Nobody, nobody. Just forget it. There you go", the man said handing him a second bowl of ramen.

* * *

It was starting to get late. Hotaru and Kakashi had spent about two and half hours at the ramen place. It was six o'clock already. As you can guess, Kakashi's wallet was screaming of emptiness.

When they got back home(Hotaru's and Sakura's home) they just watched TV all night.

* * *

**Yey! It's Kakashi! Love him... Okey, so I'm still asking for pairings. Once more: ANY NO TEAM 7 OR NOT DEAD CHARACTERS CAN HAVE PAIRINGS! I'm also accepting oc's of other Naruto children. So now just write there one pairing and if they got child(ren) their names and ages. Hope you liked the story so far :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**So here comes the 5th. Chapter! Yey! I think I'll put KibaHina and LeeTen here, at least. So if you have any other pairings just REVIEW! **

**So this chapter will give some aswers to your questions: "Why isn't Sakura working on the lead of the hospital?" "Why is she working in a bar?" "Is Naruto alive?" "What happened?" Well, maybe not the last one, but other three... **

**At my country the clock is over twelve o'clock, and I have school tomorrow, so you better like this chapter. In the morning I'll be like: "Oh, why did I stay up so late? Oh, yeah... TO MAKE ANOTHER HOTARU HARUNO FOR MY LOVELY READERS! I really love you all! So please tell me by review or PM how was the chapter. Now to let you guys reading:**

* * *

5th. Chapter

Sakura's shift had ended. It was five minutes past nine, and she was walking in the dark streets on her way home.

_'Oh, I hate my job...'_ she thought.

After Sasuke's death and Naruto's hospitalizing, she got uncertain of her treating skills. Actually, she swore herself, that she would never use them again. If she wasn't able to treat even her team mates, she wasn't absolutely able to treat anyone else either. That's what she thinks.

_'If I go through this alleyway, I will be home sooner.'_

She turned to the dark alley and as the shadows got deeper, she speeded her steps.

When she was almost in the end of the alley, somewhere behind the trash cans, an old, dirty hand reached her back. Sakura didn't notice it, until it was too late. The hand grabbed her from the back of her T-shirt, and made her fall to the ground. Someone put his hand on her chest, so she couldn't stand up. A man's head got close to her head. She got a strong scent of alcohol, and heard a whisper behind the yellowish teeth:

"I knew you'd come."

Sakura's eyes went wide. It was the nasty, old man from the bar earlier.

The man put his hand on Sakura's mouth. Wait. There was something in his hand. He put some kind of powder in her mouth! After a few seconds, she started to feel little dizzy. The man chuckled.

"Where shall we start?"

* * *

"Now, you go to bed!" Kakashi lost his temper, which was rare, and yelled at the blond little pest, who wouldn't go sleeping.

"Why should I? I know, if you land even a finger on me, mom will kill you with her own bare hands! So you can't touch me. Only thing you can do, is yell at me, and that won't work!" the little boy answered the yell and showed his tongue to a silver haired jounin, who was really pissed at this point. Though Hotaru had a point: if Kakashi used any physical force on this child, Sakura was for sure going to kill him.

He sighed. _'Now, now. I'm a grown up man, I can't loose to seven year old. Gotta think of some other way of winning this combat.'_ He thought it for a second. Then he came up with an idea.

"Hey, if you don't go sleeping, I'll tell your _mom_ about that you took my book from me and read it. How long did you get with it? Was it half of the book, or so?" Kakashi grinned under his mask. Hotaru's face went white. If his mom was about to find out that he read the perverted book of this so called 'copy ninja', his story would end there.

"Y-you wouldn't do it. She'd kill us both!" Hotaru stuttered.

"Oh, yes I would. And know what? I can get out of here, but you-. You live with her!" You could see the joy of victory in Kakashi's eyes.

"And that you stole my book more than once! Oh my... I can imagine it: '7 year old boy murdered brutally by his own mother'!"

"Ok, you win, I'll go sleeping! Just don't tell her! Please, Kakashi-san!" Hotaru begged.

Kakashi grinned and said good nights to little boy, who now went to his own room, muttering something about "-stupid adults-" on his way there.

Kakashi sat to a chair in the kitchen and started reading the book he always kept with him. After a while he came to think about Hotaru and even putted his precious book away.

He looked around him, and spotted an academy test on fridge's door. It had one red letter wrote in it: "F". _'Like father, like son, huh? So he is a retard too... And his looks... Not long and _they_ will spot Hotaru as his son. No wonder Sakura wanted me to watch over him while she had work. It seems that this will be what my weekends are like now on. Sigh. Well, anything for safety of those two.'_

* * *

Sakura felt like she was there, but still wasn't. The powder, that man had given to her, was some kind of drug. She could feel her body, but couldn't move it. Her muscles gave up.

"Please, stop..." was the only thing she could mumble.

The man just chuckled a bit and started kissing her neck. He bit a mark there. It still hurt a little. Sakura struggled to get out of his hands, but that wasn't enough in her condition. He tried to get her T-shirt off. Sakura saw an opening coming. If the man wanted her shirt off, he had to let her go for a second and that meant a chance for her to escape.

The man got to his knees and grabbed Sakura's shirt's tail. Now Sakura pushed herself up, and tried to get on her feet.

"Not so fast!" the man yelled at her and pushed her back to ground, now without her shirt on.

She saw a flash in her eyes and someone landing behind the man.

"What the hell?!" he shouted as the mysterious someone grabbed him from back and threw him away. Now the figure walked to where he had thrown drunken man. He grabbed the man's neck and lifted him up.

"So you like teasing women? What if liked teasing you a bit?"

"No! Just let me go! I didn't know she had already company!"

"I better never see you again!" the mysterious man said and dropped him to the ground. The guy ran for his life. He would never touch a woman again!

Now Sakura started feeling a bit better. She could move normally already. Little dizziness, but that's all.

She was worried about the strange savior of hers. The man had a chestnut coloured hair and it was messy. Like he had never seen a hairbrush before. Other wise he looked wealthy. He had brand new clothes, jeans and a collar shirt, and he was quite good looking. His appearance told that he was a ninja.

He walked back to Sakura and gave her her T-shirt back.

"There you go", he said handing the shirt to Sakura.

"I don't know how to thank you enough. I have a little son back at home and he needs a mother, who takes care of him."

"Just tell me your name and I'll be happy", he said.

"I'm Sakura. And may I ask your name?"

"Tomoe. It was nice meeting you _Sakura_", he smiled and started walking away.

Sakura smiled back. When Tomoe got out of her sight she fast put her shirt on, got up of the ground and walked back home.

* * *

Somewhere, far from the village Hidden in the Leaves, in the woods, was a big cave-like hiding place. There, inside the cave, were five people talking:

"Tomoe and Tazuki haven't come back yet."

"Did the village shinobi catch them?"

"No, they are too good. Something has happened to the target."

"What if Sakura is dead?"

"She can't be. It's Tomoe's job to watch over her. The time isn't right yet, so we got to keep her alive."

"But what's the matter then? Why are they so late?"

The five shinobi stopped their talking when they heard foot steps from stone stairs. Two people were coming towards them.

"We're not that late, are we?" the other man said. He had chocolate brown eyes and lime green hair that was cut short. He carried a katana on his back and his clothes were clingy.

"Tazuki! What's the matter? What took you so long?"

"Sakura has a son", said Tomoe who was standing next to Tazuki.

"What?! How didn't you know that? Tomoe, you have been following her for a year!"

"Yes, I've been following _her_, not people who visit her house."

All the five shinobi reminded silent, until the only woman spoke:

"How old is he? I mean, is he related to our prisoner?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen him. I just follow Sakura day after day to her work at morning, watch all her doings and follow her back home. Well, now that I think about it, I might have seen a young boy with her a few times on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but he doesn't look like her at all."

"Now on, you'll follow Sakura like before, but you-", said the smallest man, who was kind of the boss of the rest, pointing the only girl, "Kimi, you'll be following the boy. If he is _his_ son, we have to make sure that the boy isn't on our way."  
"Why me? Why can't anyone else do it? Tazuki for example? He knows the village better than any of us!" complained the orange haired girl. She didn't want to watch after some brat.

"Because you know our prisoner the best. You know exactly how he looks like, behaves like and his biggest weaknesses. That's why you'll be looking after this boy, and if he is like _him_, we'll get rid of him, but if not, that means that he is just a little brat without a father."

The girl just nodded. She really didn't want to do this, but she had to.

"Ok, then. Now that that's settled, Tora, how's our master?" said the small man to a only normal looking guy, who seemed to be the medic of this group.

"He is better now. Not long and he'll be able to fight. He is in his normal condition now. Little training, and master will give the orders to start the operation."

"Good, everything seems to be going as planned."

* * *

Sakura got home in no time after the little episode in alleyway. Kakashi came to greet her to hallway. First he didn't notice the mark on her neck, but when he did:

"Sakura, what on earth happened?!" Kakashi asked.

"I'll tell you later. How's Hotaru?!

"Oh, he's fine. I told him to go sleeping about an hour ago. But now tell what happened?"

Sakura glanced the clock on the wall. It was twenty minutes to ten o'clock.

"Sigh, just go to the kitchen. I'll tell you Kakashi-sensei, but first I'll go see Hotaru", Sakura said.

Kakashi went to the kitchen reading on the while Sakura went to Hotaru's room. She looked from the door.

"Good night, my little baby", she whispered and closed the door. Now to the kitchen.

Sakura told Kakashi everything that had happened. About the man in the bar, what had happened in the alley, and how she got saved by this guy, Tomoe. Kakashi thought that "Tomoe" had a good timing. May be even too good. He didn't tell Sakura about his thoughts. He didn't want her to worry any more things.

Kakashi left the house and went home. Sakura was left alone with Hotaru.

"I guess it's time for bills..."

First she went to bathroom, where they kept their first aid stuff. She got a big patch and placed it to her neck on top of the mark. _'Hope this will faint away soon.'_

* * *

_Not long and I can escape this so called "prison". I've been training for eight years. Now I can do Hiraishin almost like my father used to do it. But that's not enough. I have no seals for it outside, so I can't escape with it. But for that I've been working on my sealing jutsus. I can't wait to get back to the village. Hope Tsunade-baachan got my message-frog. Other wise all of the villagers must think I'm dead. And not even mention about Sakura-chan. She has lost too much already. I'm going back -ttebayo! But she's 26 by now. May be she has a husband, or something like that. If I go back now I'll mess her married life! That's something I don't want..._

**_Hey, Naruto, quit it! We are going back, and that's it._**

_But Kyuubi, I don't want to mess anything up._

**_WE ARE GOING BACK! I can't take one more year in this smelly, little room._**

_...For you to know, this room is quite big. The floor is 3m times 4m wide and this is 3m high!_

**_..._**

_And now you won't talk to me, huh? How childish of someone whose supposed to live forever and know everything. But I'm glad we became friends during the war. You've been the only for me one to talk to during these years in this room. Thanks to you, I can keep sanity._

**_Oh, shut it. We are almost the same person, why should we be enemies? But now you quit whining about how you might ruin Sakura's life by going back, and break free from here._**

_Only few days more. You gotta just hang on. I want to be at my best shape, when I have to fight the seven sound ninja and Kabuto, who are waiting outside._

**_Sigh... Ok, ONLY few days you brat..._**

* * *

**So Naruto is alive after all! Hurray! And he's friends with Kyuubi O.o Ok, I know I'm not telling everything to you guys, and that's because I love you all and want to make things interesting to read. **

**I know my chapters are quite short, but I'll try to make them longer now on. As you can see, every chapter has been longer than the previous one. **

**So, if I have forgotten to mention about somethings, please, just post a review and tell me what is it.  
**

**Know what? I'm moving this week! My parents have broken up about two years ago, and my dad hasn't lived with us for three years. This week my dad has to move away from rented house and got a new one. This is my first move! Seriously. I've been living as long as.. I have lived?.. and this is my first move. It's exciting to pack all your stuff and go to some place new. **

**But as I mentioned at the start, it's over twelve o'clock, and school is tomorrow, so gotta go sleeping.**

**Good night!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm so sorry! It has taken so long since I last updated! I know I ow you guys a big time, but I have some kind of excuse. Please forgive me:**

**We have kind of a crisis in our family right now, and I simply can not write anything independently. **

**Though I have started reposting some chapters of _5 Years Later_. It is a story written by author Sorenji123, but he/she lost inspiration for the story and I got to take it. He/she informed the original readers of that story, that I am writing it now on, but it might take a while...**

**Also, this chapter is quite short, and there's not much happening. Sigh, I wish I had more time, but please, try to understand me :)**

* * *

6th Chapter

It was a regular morning in the village Hidden in the Leaves. Every family had their own morning routines going. Like in the home of Haruno Sakura and her son:

"YOU GET YOUR LAZY ASS OF THE BED, AND GET READY FOR SCHOOL!"

Hotaru ran to bathroom, to do his normal stuff. Sakura had been making breakfast for herself and the little trouble-making blond. Eggs, this time. But when it was Hotaru's time to wake up, she had putted the eggs on a plate, and went to his room, with the frying pan. You can guess, that Sakura, who was angry at the mornings, and a frying pan wasn't a very pleasant combination, especially for the one who was going to be waked up...

Again, Hotaru waited in the bathroom, until Sakura had calmed down. He was ready for breakfast.

They ate on silence, but Hotaru couldn't help but wonder the plaster on a pink haired woman's neck.

"Mom, what is that for?" he finally broke the silence with his question.

Sakura bit her lip. She couldn't tell the truth, obliviously. But what was she going to tell Hotaru, who stared her with his big blue eyes? A lie? Yeah, that's the best for now.

"Well... I... I hurt myself, when I was paying bills last night. I was looking for a pen from a cabinet in the hallway, and all of the stuff in there fell on my face. Nothing serious. Just a little cut", she said. Hotaru was thinking should he buy the excuse or not to. Sakura started to worry that he wouldn't, but then he raised his gaze and said:

"Good that nothing more serious happened."

A slight sigh of relief was heard from Sakura. Hotaru believed the lie.

"Ok, it's your time to get going. You don't wanna be late, do you?" Sakura smiled.

"Well, I do, but..." Hotaru started, but then he caught a glance of Sakura's face, and thought it was better to do as she said.

He had been sitting in a tree nearby for six hours! Not to even mention his comrade. The orange haired girl was just so annoying! If he had to stand this for any longer, the girl sure was dead.

Tomoe was pretty short-tempered guy, and six hours was too much. But then, it happened:

A young, blond, little boy walked out of the door they had been watching. Kimi gasped.

The boy really was their prisoner's son!

Tomoe saw the change in her face. Could the boy really be?

When the blond pest ran to the direction of Ninja Academy, Kimi left Tomoe's company and, in the shadows, followed. Tomoe was relieved when Kimi left him finally alone.

_'That boy sure knows when is the last chance.'_

Sakura had a day off today. You see, it was rare for her having one. But today, the bar was closed for an unknown reason, and Sakura had received a message from the head of the hospital that it was a quiet day, so she wouldn't have to worry about coming to work. Sakura was already planning how to spend her day, and decided to spent it with Hotaru as soon as his school ended. But it was nearly nine o'clock, and he wouldn't be home until three. So what now?

Sakura wondered around the house for an hour. She tried to pay some bills, so she wouldn't have to pay them at night. She got that done too. Then she read a book. It was kind of a boring one since she had already read it once, so gave up the idea. She still got three hours before Hotaru came home.

She didn't figure anything out, so she just walked to her own room and laid on the bed. She watched the roof and let her eyes and thoughts wonder.

It took a while, but her eyes finally met with the locked drawer. It was placed next to the opposite wall. She hadn't opened the drawer in years. There were some vases and other decoration on top of the drawer, but the drawer itself had been closed since...

Tears started to form in Sakura's eyes. The drawer had been locked for eight years. Maybe... she was finally ready to open it. Just maybe.

Well, she still had two and half hours to spend, before she would see Hotaru. Sakura took a deep breath, stood up, let out a sigh, and reached under the carpet. There it was! A key to the lock.

She touched the key in her hand, and thought twice before her eyes got a determined look. She would do this.

She walked towards the drawer, placed the key in the lock, turned it, and a slight 'click' was heard inside the quiet house.

Sakura gulped and pulled the drawer open. It was full of some pictures and small items. All the pictures had the same man- no, more like a boy -in them. He had a blond, spiky hair, leaf headband on his forehead, and some whisker marks on his cheeks. He looked quite young. In most of the pictures he was smiling, some of them even grinning, so that a perfect row of white teeth were showing. He had deep blue eyes, like an ocean. Seemed like he liked to wear orange a lot, because in almost all of the pictures he did.

Sakura took one picture, where she herself hugged this boy. They were around the same age in it.

She couldn't resist, but touch the picture of him.

She didn't even notice that tears were flowing like small rivers on her cheeks.

"Naruto..." she whispered.

Sakura couldn't bare the pain in her chest. It was like someone tried to rip her heart off. There were so many feelings mixed together. She couldn't tell how she exactly felt like, anymore. But one thing she knew for sure; if there was a way to bring him back, she would do anything.

"My Naruto... Why'd you leave me all so sudden? Why did you leave me alone?" Sakura spoke as she fondled the picture and let the tears flow. "Why, Naruto?" she gave in the tears and lost her ability to speak, and just cried. Cried more than in a long time. Last time she had cried like this, was when she lost the love of her life, her own knuckle-head ninja...

_'Can it really be this hard to look at a picture of someone?'_ Sakura thought. She didn't want to lose even a moment that she could spend by watching through all the pictures of him. She didn't even want to blink. Not even a second could go waste. But then she remembered _why_ she had lock the drawer in the first place. It was _them_. If they would have even a slightest clue, that Hotaru was Naruto's son, not only Hotaru and Sakura, but all the nations and people in them, would be putted in grate danger. Because people who were responsible of Naruto's sudden disappearance, or even death, were seeking revenge for the world. They wanted everything that reminded them of him, and would get rid of it.

And Sakura wouldn't allow it! It was her son, that was in the most danger. It was her son they were coming after. It was her son!

Suddenly Sakura got determined. No matter how much it hurt, she forced herself to put all the pictures back, and close the drawer... again...

* * *

Hotaru was running home.

He didn't notice it, but there was a shadow following him in the bushes. It had been there the whole day, but never been noticed by anyone. Not yet, it is.

"Oh, aren't you in a hurry! What's going on?", a masked jounin, who had been reading a book, before the little boy had bumped into him, asked and stopped the boy.

"Kakashi-san! It's mom's day off! Isn't it nice?" Hotaru yelled as he jumped up and down of excitement, his blue eyes sparkling of joy.

The silver haired jounin nodded.

"It is", he answered. Then his attention turned from the boy, to the bushes behind them. He narrowed his eyes, and all of the sudden threw three kunais in the direction he had been looking at. They missed their target. And Kakashi decided to leave it.

"What was that for?!" Hotaru asked his eyes wide of sudden scare, when Kakashi turned back to him.

"I thought I saw something", the masked man mumbled.

"No need to throw a kunai right away...", Hotaru pouted.

Kakashi smiled at the boys naive-ness**(AN/: is that a word?)**, turned away, and waved his hand in the air:

"Don't make your mother lose her temper, okay? She needs some rest." With that he continued to the direction he had been walking to.

Hotaru did the same, and in no time was home.

* * *

**Somebody thought, that I have abandoned this story; no way! I already told, that we have a crisis going on, and I cannot write much lately. But I promise, that I won't abandon neither this story, nor my readers! Please review, and forgive me!  
**

**-SuomiTytt**


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